The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 2 eBook

long shafts, fell down, vomiting blood from their
mouths, with the riders on their backs, like hills
overgrown with forests tumbling down through some
convulsion of nature. Partha, by means of his
straight shafts, cut into fragments the bow-strings,
standards, bows, yokes, and shafts of the car-warriors
opposed to him. None could notice when Arjuna
took up his arrows, when he fixed them on the bow-string,
when he drew the string, and when he let them off.
All that could be seen was that Partha seemed to dance
on his car with his bow incessantly drawn to a circle.
Elephants, deeply pierced with long shafts and vomiting
blood from their mouths, fell down, as soon as they
were struck, on the earth. And in the midst of
that great carnage, O monarch, innumerable headless
trunks were seen to stand up. Arms, with bows
in grasp, or whose fingers were cased in leathern
gloves, holding swords, or decked with Angadas and
other ornaments of gold, cut off from trunks, were
seen lying about. And the field of battle was
strewn with innumerable Upashkaras and Adhishthanas,
and shafts, and crowns, crushed car-wheels, and broken
Akshas, and yokes, and warriors armed with shields
and bows, and floral garlands, and ornaments and robes
and fallen standards. And in consequence of those
slain elephants and steeds, and the fallen bodies
of Kshatriyas, the earth there assumed an awful aspect.
Duhsasana’s forces, thus slaughtered, O king,
by the diadem-decked (Arjuna), fled away. Their
leader himself was in great pain, for Duhsasana, greatly
afflicted by those shafts, overcome by fear entered
with his division the Sakata array, seeking Drona as
his deliverer.’”

SECTION XC

“Sanjaya said, ’Slaying the force of Duhsasana,
the mighty car-warrior, Savyasachin, desirous of getting
at the ruler of the Sindhus, proceeded against the
division of Drona, Having approached Drona who was
stationed at the entrance of the array, Partha, at
Krishna’s request joined his hands and said
these words unto Drona: ’Wish me well, O
Brahmana, and bless me, saying Swasti! Through
thy grace, I wish to penetrate into this impenetrable
array. Thou art to me even as my sire, or even
as king Yudhishthira the just, or even as Krishna!
I tell thee this truly. O sire, O sinless one!
Even as Aswatthaman deserves to be protected by thee,
I also deserve to be protected by thee, O foremost
of regenerate ones! Through thy grace, O foremost
of men, I desire to stay the ruler of the Sindhu in
battle. O lord, see that my vow is accomplished.’

“Sanjaya continued, ’Thus addressed by
him, the preceptor, smiling, replied unto him, saying,
’O Vibhatsu, without vanquishing me, thou shalt
not be able to vanquish Jayadratha. Telling him
this much, Drona, with a smile covered him with showers
of sharp arrows, as also his car and steeds and standard
and charioteer. Then, Arjuna baffling Drona’s
arrowy showers with his own arrows, rushed against